This invention relates to chewing gum. More particularly, it relates to a chewing gum which contains gum base, erythritol and flavor, but is free of added moisture and hygroscopic ingredients; and which is environmentally stable, i.e., which does not absorb significant amounts of water from the atmosphere to soften with age, or give off significant amounts of water to the atmosphere to harden or stiffen with age.
In recent years, efforts have been devoted to replace sugar and sugar syrups normally found in chewing gum with other carbohydrates and noncarbohydrates. Non-sugar or sugar-free chewing gum, which is growing in popularity, uses sugar alcohols or polyols to replace sugar and sugar syrups. The most popular polyols are sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol. New polyols are being developed using new technology to replace these polyols. New polyols have various unique properties which can improve the taste, texture and shelf life properties of chewing gum for consumers. The non-sugar polyols have the advantage of not contributing to dental caries of consumers, as well as being able to be consumed by diabetics.
One problem with many sugar alcohols is that they are hygroscopic, and chewing gums using them absorb moisture in high humidity environments unless special precautions are taken. Finding a non-cariogenic sweetener that will still provide a gum with good shelf stability would be an improvement. Also many polyols cause gastric distress when consumed in too great of quantities. Therefore it would be desirable to use a non-cariogenic sweetener that did not cause gastric distress.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,550 discloses a chewing gum made with a sweetening agent containing erythritol and a liquid sugar alcohol.
EPO Patent Publication No. 0 009 325 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 81-18180 disclose a method of reducing dental caries with a sugarless chewing gum made with erythritol.
Low calorie sweetening compositions containing meso-erythritol are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,916 and 4,902,525, EPO Patent Publication No. 0 325 790, and Japanese Patent Publications No. 89-225458 and No. 90-104259.
Japanese Patent No. 89-51045 discloses chewing gum made with a melted mixture of meso-erythritol and sugars or sugar alcohols.
EPO Patent Publication No. 0 497 439 discloses a sweetener employing the use of spray dried erythritol.
EPO Patent Publication No. 0 511 761 discloses a sweetening composition made up of erythritol, sorbitol, and a glucose oligomer.
PCT Publication No. W093/00828 discloses a stabilized dipeptide sweetening composition which is useful in chewing gum and may contain erythritol.
Other patents and publications which discuss erythritol include Japanese Patent Publications No. 92-287658 and No. 92-287659, both published Oct. 13, 1992, (sweetening compositions containing meso-erythritol); and European Patent Publication No. 0 530 995, published Mar. 10, 1993, (lozenge containing sweetener which is all or partly erythritol or maltitol).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,294 discloses an environmentally stable chewing gum composition containing xylitol, gum base and flavor, but no added water or hygroscopic ingredients.
Erythritol does not contribute to dental caries, does not significantly contribute to calories and does not cause gastric distress like some other polyols. Thus, this ingredient's use in chewing gum could be a definite improvement. Also, it has been discovered that chewing gum compositions with erythritol are environmentally stable.